Cape Town — They want to give their Currie Cup players the same environment as the Stormers, so the successful United Rugby Championship (URC) coach, John Dobson, with his assistants, will take charge of the Western Province in the domestic competition.
And although there will be overlapping tasks for the next month or two as the URC heads into the play-offs, the coaches will split the tasks between the teams to keep the disruption as small as possible.
WP will start their domestic campaign on Saturday against the Lions with a full complement of URC coaches behind them and some players with European experience in the mix.
It's only when the Stormers face Leinster in Ireland later this month that the coaching tasks and players available will have to be split between the two competitions.
"What we promised the Currie Cup team was to create a real sense of belonging in the bigger squad we need (for URC) and I don't think it's right for us to outsource them to other coaches," Dobson explained the decision to keep the same coaching structure for the local competition.
"We have some excellent coaches in the system but we really want to get to know the (fringe) players better. To also give them exactly the same service levels as (the Stormers) in the URC.
"It will give them a fair chance to compete next year. It feels like the right thing to do for the players.“
Dobson said they'll put out a good Currie Cup side this weekend if they do face a strong URC-flavoured Lions team.
Youngsters like props Lee-Marvin Mazibuko and Sazi Sandi, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter and backs Suleiman Hartzenberg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are expected to be part of the Currie Cup side.
Some, if not all of them, have some form of URC experience under the belt, but Dobson wants to see them grow more in a senior competition.
"We want to give them more high-level rugby and to go to Ellis Park will be a great experience. We're genuinely excited for this campaign.
"Our away start in the Currie Cup is Lions away, Bulls away, Sharks away. It could be the reverse sweep (on us) but we'll give it a go."
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